Turkey: 204 soldiers arrested over suspected links to Fethullah Gulen

Turkish security forces yesterday arrested 203 soldiers in nationwide operations over their alleged links to US-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara says was behind the 2016 attempted coup, Anadolu reported.

Operations were held across 53 provinces in the country and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

The Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in Izmir issued arrest warrants for 150 suspects, of which 123 are on-duty soldiers.

Colonels, as well as lieutenants, majors, captains, sergeants, and specialist sergeants, were among those sought in the operations against the group, according to the prosecutor’s office.

The suspects are accused of communicating with Gulen’s “covert imams” via payphone.

Some 39 of the suspects belonged to the land forces, while 97 were from the air force, six from the navy, four from the gendarmerie, and 38 were graduates of military schools that were disbanded after the coup attempt.

READ: Turkey detains suspected Gülenists trying to flee to Greece

In a separate operation in the capital Ankara warrants were issued for 19 suspects, including 11 sergeants, three retired soldiers, two dismissed non-commissioned officers, one discharged military student, and two covert imams.

Two terror suspects were arrested in the Black Sea provinces of Samsun and Amasya.

The arrests came after prosecutors in Edirne issued arrest warrants for two research assistants at the Law Faculty of Ondokuzmayis University as part of a probe into the group’s infiltration of the Turkish judiciary. They were identified by the initials N.C. and A.O.B.

Meanwhile, a sergeant was arrested in the northwestern Kirklareli province over suspected links to the Gulen movement.

Anti-terror squads of the provincial police carried out an operation in the Luleburgaz district of Kirklareli and arrested the suspect, identified by the initials F.K.